First & Jenn Morning Coffee: I Built a Life Around the 50-Yard Line

If you’ve ever loved football the way I do, you know it’s not just a game. It’s a rhythm, a mindset, and a metaphor for every single thing we go through. I didn’t just grow up watching football — I grew up learning from it. I learned patience from the huddle, trust from the play call, and resilience from the scoreboard.

Some people measure their life in milestones. I measure mine in yard markers.

I built a life around the 50-yard line — the middle ground, where you’re not winning yet but you’re far from losing. It’s the place where both end zones feel close enough to reach but far enough to make you work for it. That’s where I’ve always lived: right in the thick of it, halfway between potential and payoff.

Covering the Eagles, writing about the game, creating content about something I love — it’s all part of that middle space. The balance between passion and patience. Between being the fan in the stands and the storyteller on the field.

Football taught me that momentum shifts are real — and that sometimes, life is fourth and long. It taught me that being knocked down doesn’t mean you’re out, that comebacks are crafted quietly in the background before the crowd ever cheers for them. It taught me that even when the play doesn’t go as planned, you line back up and try again, because that’s what the greats do.

But being on the 50-yard line also taught me something softer: to find joy in the middle of progress. Everyone talks about the end zone like that’s the only place success lives. But the 50? That’s where the thinking happens. The problem-solving, the strategizing, the learning how to play smarter, not harder.

Maybe that’s why I’ve built a life here. Not chasing perfection, not waiting for the clock to run out, just playing the game. Writing, creating, storytelling — it’s all part of staying in motion. Some days I’m running routes, other days I’m just catching my breath on the sideline. But I’m still in it, still building, still loving every inch of this field.

And honestly? I wouldn’t trade this view for anything. The 50-yard line is where the stories are made.